I was 12 or 13. It was a foul ball from a Rangers spring training game in Pompano Beach. He had just taken over as manager, and signed it for me.

I used to have scores of baseballs from those games. I chased around behind the stands after the fouls, or would hang out beyond the fence during batting practice. (I distinctly remember Williams taking swings at batting practice and knocking a few out over the rightfield fence.)

I hate to think what autographs I've lost as a result of choosing one of my dad's autographed baseballs for our sandlot games. He had shoeboxes filled with them.

A friend of mine was the visiting team batboy at the stadium for a few years in a row. He was allowed to keep bats cracked during games, and gave some to me. At one point, my closet was full of them. My prized possession was Brooks Robinson's bat. It was a bottleneck sort of affair, with a lot of meat where it connected. I glued and taped it so that it was as good as new and used it regularly in our sandlot games. Will you believe this 50-something when he tells you he was the neighborhood home run king? Our field had a homerun fence and then a big steel warehouse past the fence. I used to hit them onto the top of the warehouse with that bat. What a feeling, connecting like that (and having all the kids cuss me out for losing another ball)!

Wish I knew what became of those bats. Thinkthey were lost in a move.

I was convinced back then that I was headed for the majors. But then I discovered surfing...and pot....

I have Hank Aaron and M. Ali's autograph from the 70s. Met them.
I saw Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Dom DiMaggio play in Boston in the early 50s.
I rode the subway in NYC to Ebbetts Field, Giants Stadium, and Yankee Stadium (the original) in the 50s. I'm not sure which Dodger, Giant, or Yankee players I saw play.
I knew Jack Nicklaus, David Graham, and several other golfers from work in the industry. Did not like Nicklaus or Graham. I have a set of four Rosewood (Limited Edition) woods autographed by Nicklaus.
I went to the Master's Tournament twice in Augusta and saw Sam Snead and Trevino, among many others, play. And a couple of old timer starters whose names escape me.
I saw Rick Mears in his first Indianapolis race. Better on TV than in person, however.
I have walked around the original Athens, Greece Olympic stadium.
I have seen the Dragon Boat races in Taipei, Taiwan.
I attended the Atlanta Olympics.
I saw Lee Petty, Richard Petty race (Lee on dirt). I met Richard Petty at a JC convention once.
My favorite: Hank Aaron in person. A gentleman.

memorabilia?

The bat my 18 year old hit his first 420 foot home run with!!

Wow, memories for as long as I live.

I love my very own autographed Michael Vick Pit bull. Sure he hobbles around since one leg was chewed off during one of his fights, but that was great of him to have his name tattooed onto his forehead.

I've also got a water bottle with Michael's fingerprints. Its not empty and has a strange smell and rattling noise, but I'll cherish that till the day I die.

I also have a bloody t-shirt from the crime scene where Ray Lewis was out having a good time in Atlanta oh, so many years ago. I promised never to have it washed. I've thought about checking for DNA, but since Ray walked out of jail back onto the battlefield of a professional football field, all is forgiven.

I've got bedsheets from Kobe's room where the tramp maid lied about the rape charges.

I unfortunately threw all of my O.J. stuff away, only to regret doing that once I found out that he was innocent. I keep writing to O.J. giving him directions to several local golf courses in hopes that he can find the person that killed his ex-wife and Goldman. I mean the murdered had to be a golfer because he had a really bad slice. . . (I did not just say that!)

Yep, sports memorabilia and worshipping our real heros, the Stars of Professional Sports . . .something that makes life worth living.

(I will say that I did, as a boy collect SUNOCO NFL Players stamps for the 1972 football season. Joe Namath's was the hardest to get, but I finally did and I gladly licked that last stamp and put it in my book, that was later stolen. They now sell on EBAY for about 100 bucks.)

The first baseball game that I took my son to, Texas stadium, the Rangers hit a homer into their own bull-pen. 'Pudge' Rodriguez was warming up the pitchers and he pickud up the ball and walked over and handed it to my son. Pretty cool!

Maximus